I was a little anxious going in to this appointment. I noticed over the last 7-10 days that my bite was feeling a little different and my right lateral incisor was looking a little wonky. My bite is for sure going to feel different, but since I have never been through this phase of ortho, I am not familiar what is different good and different bad. I think I can definitely spot uber bad, but what is that kind of bad but not the end of the world? Who knows! This is why I am not the doc. But, I kind of was questioning if the left side was supposed to feel a little wonky like it didn't quite fit together yet, or was that something I should call and get seen for because whatever movement he's doing with the band is throwing it off in a way he didn't want/expect? Anyway, I upped my Mon appointment to today because I didn't want to stew over it all weekend. Turns out, I was mostly worried about nothing. Thankfully!

My ortho's office was dead. Like...dead dead! Spring break for Danville this week, and all of those families up there get out of dodge for vacation, so the kids aren't even around to be seen. I didn't mind. I pretty much got my ortho's undivided attention in an unusually quiet office. Not that he ever doesn't give me his proper attention, but it's nice to not wonder in the back of my mind, "crap, is he running behind? Does he need to get with the patient that just sat down next to me?" So, he spent a lot of time having me bite, and relax my bite so he can try and see where my teeth are lining up organically without me thinking about it. He stewed over this for a few minutes and then untied me and took the wires out. Turns out there was a sneaky broken bracket! It didn't even look broken when everything was on. I couldn't tell either! So it came clean off with the wire and didn't even leave any glue behind. It's my ﻿doomed tooth 7 that needs an implant asap after treatment, so he took the chance to give it a little wiggle. "Oh my goodness this tooth is so loose!" and he went on to give 8, 9, and 10 a wiggle while they were out of the wire and he said all of my front teeth are very loose. Ugh. I am not surprised now when it's discussed, but it still sucks to get reminded how bad my front teeth are and the restorative work I need on them. Speaking of that, my ortho suggests I start getting together with my prosthodontist and starting some work. Especially my missing back molar can be started since my teeth are already in the position they will be in post op and I can get the implant post in there now before the braces are off. But I guess we can start talking game plan on the front teeth, which my ortho offered to call him and consult in case the prosthodontist wants my front teeth in a certain position to set him up better for the implants. So...again, more bad news for my front teeth. But, all of this restoration work and talking about kicking me over to my prosthodontist means that the end of ortho treatment must be in sight. I still haven't asked because I hate being that guy, but if I had to guess, I would say we must be no more than 6-8 months from getting my braces off if they are allowing me to start some of this work.

So, bracket rebonded, a few new bends in my top wire before it's put back in, OK'd to get with my prosthodontist, and then we start looking at elastics. Doc said the fact that my left side is not quite sitting right yet is not something to worry about. He'll bring it together and he's got plans. He said he wanted to put me in looser bands and I think he saw a concerned look pop up on my face. He assured me right now that I can relax a little. He said we're officially past the point of being worried about the bite floating off right out of surgery, and worrying if the surgery was a success or not and if it was going to take. I am officially now in the stage where the bite is solid after surgery and now he is just doing the fine tuning and guiding, so the lighter elastics are OK. Man oh man, was that nice to hear! And I think he knows I needed to know that we're out of that danger zone! PHEW!!! So, lighter elastics with one triangle on my left, one on my right, and then a class II still on my right as well. You can check out the new config in the vlog below. I can already feel my bite feels a little better after the tweaks today. I can also feel my top teeth are sore. The one tooth was not engaged the last however long (probably 2 weeks) and the power chain was old and lost it's pull a long time ago, so the fresh one is definitely a little snug and I'm sore for it. Not awful though, as always with his adjustments.

Anywho.... it's just nice to know we're still OK! Other house keeping to report is not much different than last time. Numbness on my lower lip/chin is very very slowly getting better I think. Swelling and soreness is still up and down. I have a good day, and then the next day a bad day. Most of it is self induced though. Like today I woke up swollen, but it's because I was bending over doing a lot of weeding in my garden all day yesterday and that irritated everything. Oh well. Right TMJ still a little sore. Had a little crunching in there yesterday, but not major slips like I felt a few weeks ago. Hopefully we're done with whatever that was! Next ortho appointment is in 4 weeks, and I see Dr. Karas in 5 weeks. Now I guess I'll be seeing my prosthodontist sooner rather than later.

One last note-- two year anniversary of my first surgery coming up in 2 days. Time flies. ﻿I am not making a dedicated post to it this year, but it deserves to be mentioned. Last year when I wrote my 1 year anniversary post, I was hoping and praying the next anniversary post would be written from a much better place after revision. It most definitely is, and for that I am thankful. I am still not emotionally fixed, but physically I am much better. Again, something I can not thank my team enough for. At least now the anniversary of this surgery will be something to celebrate instead of be sad over!

And then check out this little gem I recently came up on (thanks to fb memories) from 3 or 4 years ago....... good reminder that although the road has been bumpy and long, now having teeth that are in line with the teeth below it is not only healthier, but SO much better looking!